Home Health PPS Grouper Software (HHGS)

Home Health PPS Grouper Software (HHGS) Package (for claims starting 04-01-2026)

The April 2026 release of the HH PPS Grouper software (v07.1.26) is now available in the “Downloads” section of this webpage. A summary of the changes for what is included in the v07.1.26 HH PPS Grouper software update is listed below.

In November 2018, CMS finalized a case-mix classification model, the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM), effective beginning January 1, 2020. The PDGM, or Home Health PPS Grouper Software (HHGS), relies more heavily on clinical characteristics and other patient information to place home health periods of care into meaningful payment categories and eliminates the use of therapy service thresholds. In conjunction with the implementation of the PDGM, there is a change in the unit of home health payment from a 60-day episode to a 30-day period.

The following reflects the changes included in the v07.1.26 software update:

• There are no logic or interface changes for v07.1.26

The following tables impacting grouping logic and HIPPS code assignments are updated effective April 1, 2026 (see details in the Summary of Changes document provided with the software):

• Clinical Group Assignments updates
• Code First Diagnosis updates 
• Unacceptable Principal Diagnosis updates

Notice Regarding Upcoming Releases of the Home Health PPS Grouper

The October 2025 version of Home Health PPS Grouper has been upgraded to Java software version 17.  Home health agencies and their software vendors who implement the HH Grouper in a mainframe environment are impacted by this change as well. CMS had previously notified users of this upgrade.

With this release, one Common Business-Oriented Language (COBOL) Java bridge module is provided that will utilize the 64-bit, Java 17 JVM environment.  The installation guides for the program provide notice of the changes.

The Java jar has been developed and tested using Java 17; Java 8 support is no longer available as of the v06.1.25 October 1, 2025 release.

Questions about the Java 17 conversion can be sent at any time to the resource mailbox HHGrouperQuestions@cms.hhs.gov.   

Support for the HH-PPS Grouper Software

Additional information can be found in the Frequently Asked Questions (PDF)

For related questions, please use the following contacts:

• Email: HHGrouperQuestions@cms.hhs.gov: Contact for questions with HH PPS Grouper

Home Health PPS Grouper Software Package (for claims through 12-31-2019)

Archived versions of the Home Health Prospective Payment System (HH PPS) Grouper are available for download. The HH PPS Grouper software will only work for OASIS submissions with an assessment completion date from through December 31, 2019. Effective January 1, 2020 the Home Health Patient Driven Grouping Model, or revised Home Health PPS Grouper Software (HHGS), will be used to process Home Health claims.